Madhya Pradesh stands up to walk into Guinness Book

New Delhi, Oct 18 (UNI) They stood up for a cause, and they walked into the Guinness Book of world records! When a whopping 3.3 million people of Madhya Pradesh joined the ''Stand Up Against Poverty'' campaign earlier this week as part of the UN Millennium Campaign, little did then they realise they would be entering into the Guinness Book.

The recognition from the Guinness came for the largest figure from a single region across the world.

The city of Indore led the state with the single largest gathering of 55,000 organised by Public Works Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya.

Overall, around 23 million people across the world participated in the event on October 15-16, organised by the United Nations Millennium Programme.

Speaking on the worldwide 'Stand Up' campaign, an official statement from Guinness issued in London commented: ''By the time we get all the figures in, it will be the largest single coordinated movement of people in the history of the Guinness World Records.'' The people of Madhya Pradesh rallied at the call of state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan to join the 'Stand Up' campaign.

''I reaffirm the state government's commitment to fight hunger and poverty and meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015,'' Mr Chauhan said in the pledge he read at the ''Stand UP Against Poverty'' campaign at Indore's Nehru Stadium.

Government departments, educational institutions and social organisations arranged the 'Stand Up ' events across 42 districts of the state. A total of 3,327,399 people stood up while participating in the event.

''This figure is almost one-third of the total number of people who stood up across India,'' a statement of the UN said here today.

The 'Stand Up' event aimed at raising mass awareness about the promise by 189 nations to eradicate hunger, poverty and diseases such as HIV and AIDS by 2015. This promise is reflected in a set of eight goals, called the Millennoim Development Goals (MDGs).

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